Funding for community groups reducing waste

Last year’s fund recipients at an event in Gillmoss Recycling Discovery Centre, Liverpool

A share of £165,000 is up for grabs for community groups trying to make the borough, or the wider Liverpool City Region (LCR), a cleaner and greener place.

Funding from Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority (MWRA) and Veolia Community Fund for 2020/21 is now available to community and voluntary groups, schools and not-for-profit organisations who have an idea or project to prevent carbon emissions.

Whether the project is to help reduce household waste or encourage recycling and re-using the annual community fund, that has been running since 2006, is now receiving applications.

The deadline for submissions is Sunday 15 March 2020 at 11.59pm.

The impact of the 2018/19 Fund saw 12 projects divert 673 tonnes of material from disposal, 26,643 people directly engaged, participation by 50,533 volunteers, and a 1419 tonne reduction in CO2 equivalent emissions.

Bids must tackle one or more of the four priority household waste materials which have been identified by MRWA, these include: Food, Plastics, Textiles and Furniture.

An analysis of waste in the region highlighted that a greater amount of these materials could be re-used or recycled. Projects can, however, also include other household waste materials including paper, card and metals.

Previous Community Fund projects have included local recycling guidebooks, cookery clubs to improve people’s diet and reduce food waste, restoring old furniture to sell for charity and refurbishing unwanted rugs for resale.

Successful applicants can be awarded up to £30,000 (for schemes which operate across all six districts of the LCR in Merseyside ad Halton) or between £1,000 an £8,000 (for projects based in Wirral alone).